How Bayan got its voice back

Bayan Telecommunications’ Tunde Fafunwa is very enthusiastic nowadays because the Lopez-controlled company has risen from its low point. And the source of his excitement is largely due to the recent introduction of Span, Bayan’s wireless landline service.

“We are not only giving Filipinos their voice back with Bayan wireless landline’s unlimited calling service, we’re also liberating them from the shackles of landline cords, high cost of cell-phone calls, and talking only within one network,” says Fafunwa, the chief executive consultant for Bayan.

To prove that Bayan is serious, Fafunwa said the company has even adopted a new look. Apart from this, it now uses the word “Bayan” as its abbreviation instead of Bayantel. Moreover, it adopted the color red to signify its boldness to face the future with enthusiasm.

“We have to rebrand our company. We got a new look. We decided to use Bayan to signify vibrancy and dynamism. You know, many people associate the Bayantel name to the old problems,” he explained.

Fafunwa, an avid follower of Manchester United in the English Premier League, says the goal of rolling out wireless technology is to meet the market demand for “voice.” He even recalled that voice used to be the hottest thing in the telecommunications sector when applicants finally got their landline.

“In the mid to late ’90s, Filipinos love to make telebabad with their friends and relatives when they got their landline,” noted Fafunwa.

According to research commissioned by the company, some 80 percent of  Filipinos wanted to bring back the voice in communication. However, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Fafunwa said Bayan had to craft ways to bring voice and, at the same time, retain the mobile-phone and texting service.

“We found out Filipinos still want to text and use their mobile phone. It doesn’t mean Filipinos don’t want their mobile phone and texting,” he said.

Bayan found the solution by launching the wireless landline. Bayan saw a window of opportunity and decided to introduce their wireless landline service. Using code division multiple access (CDMA) technology, Bayan was able to roll out the needed infrastructure in a breeze without requiring the company to put up a new network infrastructure and business unit.

“In our own service, you can text and talk, too, through the wireless landline. The key thing is you can talk. Whether it is a desktop or a handset, you can talk,” says Fafunwa.

CDMA refers to any of several protocols used in so-called second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) wireless communications. As a form of multiplexing, CDMA allows numerous signals to occupy a single transmission channel, optimizing the use of available bandwidth. CDMA is used in the 800-megahertz and 1.9-gigahertz bands.

Fafunwa admits it was a bold step for Bayan to embark on such a project considering that Filipinos currently are heavily dependent on cellular phones as their primary mode of communication.

But Fafunwa said Bayan is determined to push on with Span because he believes it will be a useful technology for millions of Filipinos.

The company sees great potential for Span in many areas. “We are trying to position Span in the transport sector. This wireless landline will help companies bring down the cost of their communication, especially with their sales force,” he said.

“Rental fleets or any transport company will need wireless landline to boost their communication capabilities. Furthermore, Bayan can use the push-to-talk feature for Span in the future,” he added.

For chief executive officers, Span delivers cost-effective rates for overseas calls with prices that are within the cost range of voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP.

Even government officials have jumped in. Marikina City was the first among the local government units to acquire BayanWireless handsets for their operations, emergency hotline, field operations, events management, police and barangay functions.

“The prospects of the service are very bright. And the size of the market is huge and exponential,” said Fafunwa.

**** 

TALK IS CHEAP Pricing is one main attraction of Span. For P999 per month (value-added tax inclusive), a subscriber can get unlimited calls from BayanWireless landline to any BayanWireless landline, to any BayanPhone nationwide, and to any landline with the same area code.

Texting is free from BayanWireless landline to BayanWireless landline. Meanwhile, texting from a BayanWireless to other landlines and cell phones will be charged P1 per message. Texting from BayanWireless to an international landline or cell phone is P15 per message.

For international direct-dial calls, there is a charge of $0.19 cents per minute and $0.10 cents per minutes for the top 71 destinations in the world. $0.40 cents per minute is charged for calls to other locations.

BayanWireless landline coverage areas include Manila, Caloocan, Makati, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig and San Juan.

BayanPhone coverage areas are Malabon, Manila, Novaliches, Quezon City and Valenzuela.

How Bayan got its voice back

Bayan Telecommunications’ Tunde Fafunwa is very enthusiastic nowadays because the Lopez-controlled company has risen from its low point. And the source of his excitement is largely due to the recent introduction of Span, Bayan’s wireless landline service.

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